This study is an effort to contribute to the empirical literature on the diverse patterns of migration, adaptation measures by households facing environmental changes, and the role of migration in augmenting household adaptive capacities in four river basins of the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, namely the Gandaki, the Indus, the Upper Ganga and the Teesta. Recent studies indicate that migration can be a powerful adaptation strategy for populations facing global environmental changes, by increasing the ability of the households to rely on their existing resource base. However, there still exist gaps in empirical findings, particularly quantitative studies investigating migration and adaptation, to fully support this.

Migration patterns in the study sites are diverse, ranging from seasonal/circular migration to international migration. However, most migration is internal and international migration is limited mainly to South-South movement. Migration is mostly male-dominated; however, female migration is increasing with women getting more educated and seeking employment opportunities in urban destinations. The major driver of migration decisions is economic, but environmental displacement was also prevalent in the study sites. The reasons for migration were consistent across the study basins, but differed between different streams of the same basin.

The adaptive capacities of households in four key sectors are analysed – agriculture, livestock, forestry, and water. The capacity of households to adapt to the negative effects of environmental changes and shocks in the study sites was low, and the adaptation measures undertaken mostly autonomous, except in the case of the water sector. The linkage between migration and household adaptive capacity was found to be positive, but statistically significant only in the agricultural sector. Thus, migration helps households’ adaptive capacity by spatially diversifying household income sources, but this potential is limited at present as remittances are small and mostly invested in meeting basic requirements. Thus, at present, migration is more a response strategy of the households to various changes, including environmental changes and their effects on local livelihoods

Agroforestry has played an important role in reducing vulnerability and increasing the resilience of farming systems and people against climate related risks. It also provides different ecosystem services which support social, industrial and ecological needs. In this context, the International Agroforestry Conference (IAC) 2018 was organized from 27 to 29 April 2018 to provide a common platform for researchers, scholars, academics, policy makers and business entrepreneurs to address the main theme of the conference, “Promotion of Agroforestry for Rural Income Generation, Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation”. Over 100 participants from 11 countries participated in this event, which included five keynote speakers/presentations, three panel sessions involving 14 panelists/ presenters, three special guest presentations, and 40 technical presentations in two parallel sessionsRead More

Development of ICT tools and techniques globally have intervened on various sectors that determined the growth of human life and its use has significant effect on national development by increasing the productivity in the agriculture sector as well. A study was conducted to find out access and usage of ICT tools among farmers of previously Thakre and Goganpani VDC then the Thakre Rural Municipality and Galchi Rural Municipality of Dhading district which helped in facilitating smallholder farmers to get benefits by accessing agricultural information for improvement in agriculture sectors. A total of 143 households were purposively selected for the study during field survey. The results showed that majority of the farmers owned and use mobile phones as well as television and radio while use of social media was also found in abundance. Mobile phones were widely used for social communication and contacting experts for agricultural advisories. Information services on disease and pest management, good agriculture practices, weather information and financial management were also used through ICT tools. Market linkage and prices information were least accessed for the purpose of contacting middle men for marketing of produce.

However, the major constraint of effective use of ICT tools was basic ICT skills, ICT related facilities, awareness about benefits of ICTs and low literacy. It is prerequisite to have awareness about ICT tools and skills which brings significant benefits to smallholder farmers leading to increased agricultural productivity and make agricultural as profitable business. Therefore, there is a need to create enabling environment for ICT tools and services accessibility and market information to farmers of rural areas

The expert consultation, financially supported by BMUB, intended to bring together soil experts from the entire HKH region to forge a common pathway for securing soil functions in the mountains. Lessons from this consultation will be linked to ICIMOD’s work on mitigation, mountain resilience, and adaptation to climate change. Furthermore, ICIMOD has seized the opportunity to develop its expertise on mountain soils, an issue that is becoming more relevant throughout ICIMOD’s regional member countriesRead More

Faced with a complex and uncertain future, the coming years are even more so for mountains that contend with rising temperatures, dwindling natural resources, and rapidly increasing outmigration. Therefore, the need to focus on affordable and replicable solutions that can affect significant change is more important than ever. The solutions in this book are based on years of hard work and collaboration between ICIMOD and its partners. These solutions provide valuable information about approaches and technologies that can inform communities, practitioners, decision makers and governments alike. In this way, we believe the “small” solutions presented can make a great contribution to global development agendaRead More

2017 was final year in ICIMOD's third medium-term action plan (2013-2017). This report documents several stories showing the cumulative impact of ICIMOD’s work over the last five years. They show how we combine efforts on multiple fronts – from working with communities, engaging policy makers and promoting collaboration across borders to generating new knowledge and building capacity – to create positive change in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH). During this timeframe many important lessons have emerged to help us chart the way forwardRead More

Private investments in groundwater have emerged as the main pathway through which smallholder farmers in India access irrigation. This paper discusses the role of groundwater in agrarian growth in West Bengal, India. It finds that agricultural growth in the state has stagnated since mid-1990s, after an initial period of growth in the 1980s and early 1990s. We hypothesize that this stagnation was a direct result of slowdown in growth in groundwater irrigation. The reason for this slowdown was, in turn, government policies related to groundwater and electricity. The paper then goes on to discuss the Groundwater Act of 2005 as well as electrification policies of the government of West Bengal and locates these policies within the broader backdrop of groundwater resource endowments in the state. By juxtaposing groundwater policies and resource realities, the paper questions the relevance of current regulations and suggests some policy alternatives—alternatives that are likely to propel the state and its smallholder farmers on a path of higher agricultural growthRead More

Excessive demand for ecosystem services arising from rapidly growing human population and several anthropogenic activities have led to the extensive modification of vital ecosystems of the world. This has generated global concerns as this undermines ecosystem functioning and resilience and thus threatens the ability of ecosystems to continuously supply services. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals can only be met when ecosystem degradation is halted and further loss of ecosystem services is controlled, and only if the natural capital and assets can be utilized in a sustainable way. Therefore, regional, national and local assessments of ecosystem and their services are needed to identify and develop an effective policy in response to ecosystem degradation. Despite the multi-dimensional (ecological, socio-cultural and economic) importance of ecosystems to human society, there have been no serious efforts to assess the ecosystem services of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH). The benefits provided by ecosystems are inadequately recognized and resource users do not take into account the cost of ecosystem degradation in their resource management decisions, since there is very limited understanding of ecosystem dynamics and the values that are being lost through degradationRead More

Funded by the European Union with a grant of 10 million euros, the Support to Rural Livelihoods and Climate Change Adaptation in the Himalayas (Himalica) Programme successfully developed, tested and scaled innovative livelihoods options to increase the resilience of mountain communities in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH). It was implemented with partners in five HKH countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, and PakistanRead More